Oregon already denies parents the “right” to circumcise.

It’s shameful how easy it is to demonstrate that the law is wrong, biased, and in dire need of repair. Oregon’s current law on the limit to parental rights over daughters:

Be It Enacted by the People of the State of Oregon:

    SECTION 1. (1) A person commits the crime of female genital mutilation if the person:
    (a) Knowingly circumcises, excises or infibulates the whole or any part of the labia majora, labia minora or clitoris of a child; or
    (b) Is the parent, guardian or other person legally responsible for the care or custody of a child and knowingly allows the circumcision, excision or infibulation of the whole or any part of the child’s labia majora, labia minora or clitoris.
    (2) Female genital mutilation is a Class B felony.
    (3)(a) A person who circumcises, excises or infibulates the whole or any part of a child’s labia majora, labia minora or clitoris does not violate subsection (1) of this section if:
    (A) The person is a physician, licensed to practice in this state; and
    (B) The surgery is medically necessary for the physical well-being of the child.
    (b) In determining medical necessity for purposes of paragraph (a)(B) of this subsection, a person may not consider the effect on the child of the child’s belief that the surgery is required as a matter of custom or ritual.
    SECTION 2. …

Parents do not have the right to make this non-medical decision for their daughters. No one will claim that this law denies parents a right to make medical decisions based on actual need, or to raise their daughters in their religion. We do not care because we know this is the only correct position. It is ethically inconsistent with liberty to allow parents to cut their child’s healthy genitals before the child can consent. It is a larger indictment against our humanity that we see a valid gender distinction.

Still, we fall back on tradition and ignore that boys deserve the same protection of their rights. That must stop. This is a constitutional issue. Any belief otherwise by the Oregon Supreme Court is willful ignorance¹.

¹ The same applies to the United States Supreme Court. Oregon’s text is virtually identical to the Female Genital Mutilation Act (pdf) passed by Congress and signed by President Clinton.